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Name:______KEY_________________
Vocabulary to know:
• Ecology
• Ecosystem
• Abiotic Factors
• Biotic Factors
• Communities
• Population
• Niche
• Autotrophs
Unit 10 Ecology Study Guide
CP Biology
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Heterotrophs
Decomposers
Demography
Dispersion
Growth Rate
Carrying Capacity
Keystone Species
Introduced Species
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Producers
Consumers
Food Chain
Food Web
Chemosynthesis
Biological
Magnification
Eutrophication
1. Population Growth
a. What is carrying capacity? The population size the environment can sustain
b. Draw a graph with carrying capacity:
c. Draw a graph showing exponential growth.
d. What are the factors that limit the size of a population? Food, water, space and other
resources, disease, etc.
2. Ecology
a. What is the definition of ecology? The study of how organisms interact with each other
and their environment.
b. What is an abiotic factor? Give examples. Non-living elements in an ecosystem- ex:
weather, sun, water, soil, temperature, etc.
c. What is a biotic factor? Give examples. Living elements in an ecosystem- plants, animals
and bacteria
d. Compare producers and consumers. Producers capture energy from the sun to get
energy while consumers must gain their energy from eating other organisms.
e. Compare heterotrophs and autotrophs. Similar to the above, autotrophs are able to
produce their own food through photosynthesis while heterotrophs must consumer other
organisms
f.
Put the following in order of who eats who: primary consumers, tertiary consumer,
producer, secondary consumer. Tertiary consumer eats Secondary consumer which eats
Primary consumer which eats Producer
g. Put the following in order of the largest to fewest in number in an ecosystem: primary
consumers, tertiary consumer, producer, secondary consumer. Largest  Smallest
Population: Producer  Primary Consumer  Secondary Consumer  Tertiary
Consumer
h. What breaks down dead organisms? Decomposers
i.
What is a trophic level?
Any class of organisms that occupy the same position in a food chain, such
as primary consumers, secondary consumers, and tertiary consumer.
j.
Only 10% of energy stored at each trophic level in an ecosystem can be passed into the
next trophic level. What happens to the remaining energy? It is lost as heat.
k. What would organisms in the same trophic level compete for? Food resources.
l.
Which group (consumer, producer) has the most total energy and why?
Producers, because they get their energy directly from the sun and then energy is lost at
each subsequent level.
m. Explain why two species are not able to occupy the niche?
Because there are a limited number of resources and one will eventually outcompete the
other.
n. Completive exclusion states that “two species competing for the same resources cannot
coexist.” When is competitive exclusion most likely to occur?
Between two similar species within the same trophic level.
o. True or False: In order to be in competition you must be in similar niches and want the
same food. TRUE
3. Ocean Floor Vent Communities
a. What type of chemical is produced in ocean floor vents? Hydrogen Sulfide
b. Compare chemosynthesis to photosynthesis?
In chemosynthesis, organisms are able to produce energy from inorganic chemicals in
the absence of sunlight. In photosynthesis, energy is also produced, but sunlight is
necessary.
c. Which is more common in plants: chemosynthesis or photosynthesis? Photosynthesis.
d. Which organisms use chemosynthesis to produce energy without sunlight?
Some bacteria (prokaryotes)
4. Energy Cycles
a. What is released into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels? Carbon Dioxide
b. What is acid rain?
Precipitation with a high concentration of hydrogen ions, causing a lower pH.
c. How does acid rain affect organisms?
Most animals cannot tolerate a low pH and may die.
d. Describe the following steps of the water cycle:
- Evaporation: Warmth from the sun causes water to rise into the air and
turn into water vapor (gas)
- Condensation: Water vapor in the air cools down and turns back into
liquid water (clouds!)
- Precipitation: Water (in the form of rain, snow, hail or sleet) falls from
clouds in the sky.
- Transpiration: Evaporation of water from plant leaves.
5. Nitrogen Cycle
a. What is the more common name for a prokaryote? Bacteria
b. What type of organisms are nitrogen fixers? And what do they do?
Bacteria! They take nitrogen from the atmosphere is converted into ammonia in the soil,
where it may be more readily used by plants.
c. How do legumes fit into the nitrogen cycle?
Legumes have a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing bacteria.
d. Most fixed nitrogen coming from bacteria living a symbiotic relationship with which
organisms? Legumes!
e. What is eutrophication and how does it affect species?
Nutrient enrichment in lakes caused by fertilizers that contain nitrogen and phosphorus.
The added nutrients can cause a dense growth of plant life, which leads to the death of
other animals.
f.
What major nutrients do plants need to grow? Phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen.
6. Keystone Species
a. What happens to an ecosystem when a keystone species is removed?
The whole ecosystem may collapse.
7. Biological Magnification
a. What is biological magnification AND what organism is most affected?
They process whereby certain substances such as pesticides or heavy metals move up the
food chain and exist in greater concentrations within organisms at the top of the food
chain (tertiary consumers).
8. Relationships (from reading)
a. Fill in the following chart:
Definition
Commensalism
Mutualism
Predation
Parasitism
A close relationship between
species where one is
benefited and the other is
neither helped nor harmed.
A close relationship between
species where both are
benefited.
One species eats the other!
A close relationship between
species where one is
benefited and the other
harmed.
Benefits one
species?
X
Benefits the
other?
X
X
X
X
Example
Some fish and
sharks
Bees and
flowers
Coyotes and
rabbits
Ticks and dogs
b. What is mimicry and give an example.
The close resemblance of an animal or plant (or part of one) to another animal, plant, or
inanimate object. Example: Monarch and Queen butterfly.
c. What is competition and when would it happen?
An interaction between organisms or species in which the fitness of one is lowered by the
presence of another. Limited supply of at least one resource (such as food, water, and
territory) used by both will cause competition.